Tag Archives: Budgets

Only three states can fund their budgets – NEITI

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With the exception of three states – Lagos, Delta and Rivers – the remaining 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) may not be able to fund their annual budgets, the latest quarterly review on national revenue disbursements to the federal, states and local governments prepared by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has disclosed.

This is because of the prolonged drop in revenue accruing to the federation mainly from the oil and gas sector.

Released yesterday in Abuja, the document explained that while revenue from the country’s national earnings had dropped, and states expected to augment their shares with internally generated revenues (IGR), only Rivers, Lagos and Delta States can boast of their clear abilities to earn enough IGRs to close the expected revenue gaps and fund their budgets.

It said the federal government, states and local government areas got a total of N1.534 trillion as allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) for the months of July, August and September 2016.

According to it, a breakdown of the allocations for the third quarter of 2016 showed that the federal government received N697.9 billion, the states got N512.66 billion, while the local government areas collected N324.31 billion.

It, however, said there was a major revenue spike in July when the three tiers of government shared N546.62 billion as against the N304.91 billion they shared in June, an increase of 79 per cent.

Considering that most states depend on FAAC to fund their annual budgets, the NEITI document observed that lower monthly disbursements would likely impact the budget implementation of most states of the federation in very negative ways.

It said: “Although the states also have revenue inflows from IGR, the report contends that, it is highly unlikely that IGR would be sufficient to offset the huge gap between expenditure and revenue in many states, with perhaps only the exception of three states – Lagos, Rivers, and Delta.

“The dwindling revenue from the petroleum sector, which has led to substantially lower disbursements from FAAC, will limit the ability of states to effectively execute their budgets,” the NEITI report explained.

Senators move to legalize insertion of constituency projects into budgets

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The senate on Thursday resolved to pass a bill seeking to give legitimacy to the inclusion of constituency projects in the federal budget.

 

Constituency projects, which have been a subject of controversy owing allegations of corruption, are carried out by federal legislators across their constituencies.

 

Abdulmumin Jibrin, a suspended member of the house of representatives, had raised the alarm over alleged illegal insertions of constituency projects in the 2016 budget.

 

But the upper legislative chamber now wants to make such “insertions” legal.

 

The proposal entitled, ‘A bill for an Act to provide for constituency projects in the annual budget of the federation’, sponsored by Stella Oduah, a senator from Anambra state, passed second reading after a brief debate on it.

 

When a bill passes second reading, which is the critical stage, it is referred to a committee after which it would be passed.

 

Senate President Bukola Saraki referred the bill to the committee on states and local government areas.

 

“The framework for the implementation of constituency project bill ensures transparency, and there is no room for corruption,” he said.

NASS Alone Cannot Pad Budgets, Na’Abba Accuses Executive Arm

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The former Speaker of House of Representatives, Rt Hon Ghali Na’Abba, has declared that there can be no padding of the national budget without the connivance of the executive arm of government.

Na’Abba made this revelation while fielding questions from journalists in Kaduna, yesterday.

He also noted that it was the constitutional responsibility of the National Assembly to make appropriations on the budget submitted to it by the executive.

“I expect that after 16 years of the return to democracy, Nigerians would understand the responsibilities of the National Assembly.

“For some weeks now, there has been controversy over what is called padding. As far as I am concerned, the National Assembly has the responsibility to pass the budget, approve it and allow the executive arm to execute it.

“To my understanding, where the issue being referred to as padding comes into play is a situation where some members go behind and add items of expenditure to what had already been agreed upon, for either stealing the funds or doing whatever they feel like doing with it.

“But this stealing of fund is not possible without the active connivance of some members of the executive arm,” he stated.

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http://www.leadership.ng/news/545121/nass-alone-cannot-pad-budgets-naabba

National Assembly Allocation Higher Than States’ Budgets- Report

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After months of public outcry over its lavish annual budget, Nigeria’s National Assembly has finally accepted a N20 billion cut to its budget, the first time it would do so since 2011.

This year, the National Assembly will spend N130 billion, and no longer N150 billion, according to the 2015 Appropriation Act signed this month by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Since 2011, the legislature had maintained a super annual budget package of N150 billion, with details of the spending kept top secret for four years.

Even as Nigeria faced a devastating revenue shortage due to sliding oil price in 2014, the Nigerian government proposed another N150 billion for the lawmakers for the 2015 fiscal year.

But while the lawmakers have now agreed a N20 billion cut following months of criticism, its new N130 billion allocation still outweighs the individual budgets of 19 states in Nigeria, PREMIUM TIMES analysis has shown.

Only 17 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory Administration have budgets that are equal to, or above that of the National Assembly.

The federal legislature consisting of the Senate, the House of Representatives, the National Assembly Service Commission and the Legislative Institute of Nigeria; has just over 2,000 persons.

The National Assembly has 469 members in addition to legislative aides and other support staff which are less than 1, 600 persons.

On the contrary, every state of the Federation have the full complements of the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, a robust civil service, and of course millions of citizens to care for.

Some of the states with smaller budgets include Ebonyi (N80 billion), Yobe (N80.6 billion) Niger (80.8 billion), Ekiti (N80.9 billion), Gombe (N86. 8 billion), Zamfara (N92.8 billion), and Enugu (N96.7 billion).
Others are Taraba, Benue, Jigawa and Adamawa. (See full list below).

Currently, the national lawmakers have been found to be paying themselves salaries and allowances outside the recommendations of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC.

A former RMAFC’s Chairman, Hamman Tukur, had publicly accused the legislators of paying themselves illegal salaries and allowances.

In a year, the senators pocket over N19.6 billion while members of the House of Representatives earn N38.8 billion in allowances apart from other official perks.

Read More: premiumtimesng